The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is urging Rachel Reeves to get rid of Stamp Duty Land Tax, as it harms mobility, slowing up the housing market and tying up capital.

The OECD is an international organisation of 38 member countries that work together to develop economic and social policies.

With UK debt surging from around 35% of GDP in 2008 to nearly 100% today, the OECD has underlined the urgency of the situation and is calling for “significant action” to stabilise the UK’s finances.

It has made a number of recommendations on how the Government could raise more money, from scaling back the triple lock on pensions to unfreezing fuel duty.

Hampering the housing market

But when it came to Stamp Duty, the OECD economists have taken another view, saying it should be abolished rather than increased as it would discourage people from moving, “for better job prospects or to downsize during retirement, hampering the reallocation of housing in a tight market”.

It took the opposite view on Council Tax however, calling on the Government to update the property values on which it is based, as the tax is based on house prices measured 35 years ago, from 1991.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation of 38 member countries that work together to develop economic and social policies.